A Promising Tomorrow
by EchidnaPower
Summary: Takes place immediately after the end of "A Forgotten Yesterday". Fillmore's lost two of his old friends now and needless to say, he's tired of losing people to the darkness he was lucky enough to escape from. Luckily, Ingrid's there to show him that his efforts to rehabilitate his delinquent friends haven't exactly gone to waste. There's one person who's benefited. IngridXFillmore


**I got the inspiration to write this after going through the series again. Fillmore, yet another amazing cartoon that didn't get nearly enough love in my honest opinion. If none of you have ever seen it, you should give it a shot. It's basically a young person version of cop shows, and the dynamic between the two main characters is one I absolutely love, I wish it had lasted more than two seasons...but I guess kids didn't like the idea of having to think while watching cartoons...anyway, here's a oneshot that I hope you'll enjoy.  
**_

Fillmore watched as Representative Peabody of X Middle School's Student Council addressed the Examiner's reporters. One of the most important cases of his career had just been solved, he had uncovered the truth behind the disappearance of the school's catalog of term papers...and the Safety Patroller felt absolutely sick to his stomach. The young man sighed and took another sip of hot cocoa as he wrapped the towel he was wearing tighter around himself. As glad as he was the case had been solved, the circumstances behind it made him want to hit something...preferably some_one._

"Hey, Fillmore...i-it didn't have to end like this."

Speaking of that someone. Karen Tehama and Joseph Anza walked by with the cause of this latest appearance of "Tortured Fillmore" in their custody. Sonny Lombard, the man behind all of the attempts to injure him, looked at the bald boy with a look of remorse. What he was remorseful about, Fillmore wasn't sure, but he sure as heck knew he wasn't sorry about what he did. He wouldn't let his hopes get that high ever again, not after this case.

Fillmore frowned deeply and walked up to his old friend Sonny, shooting daggers at him with his eyes as he grit out his response. "You're right Sonny, it didn't. When I went straight, man you should've come along _with _me! Because I have a _better _life now," Fillmore looked back and saw his partner Ingrid Third, standing tall behind him as he confronted his former friend, "And I got a better _partner _too, and I'm _never _goin' back to the way I was, _NEVER_...now _that's _beautiful." Fillmore jabbed Sonny's chest with his finger before stepping back and turning his head away in disgust, and Sonny just grunted as Tehama and Anza took him away.

Once Sonny was gone, Fillmore turned around and walked up to his partner, who was smiling softly at him as he approached. "You ready to get outta here?" Fillmore held out his fist, and wordlessly, Ingrid nodded and bumped her fist with his, and the two began the walk back to the school. Fillmore took another sip of his cocoa and glanced over at Ingrid, who was matching him stride for stride. For the briefest of moments, he'd seen that ever elusive softer side of Ingrid Third when he walked up to her, and now she was back to being her usual stoic self. He smiled in spite of himself, even when he'd temporarily lost his way, Ingrid was there to reel him back in before he'd done something he surely would've regretted.

Ingrid glanced over at Fillmore and caught him staring at her, and she relinquished a small smile when he suddenly turned away, seeming very interested in his cup of hot cocoa that was quickly becoming just lukewarm. But the smile vanished when she noticed a frown appear on his face as he stared at the marshmallows in his cocoa. "Penny for your thoughts?" To her shock, Fillmore flinched at her words and turned his head in the opposite direction of hers for a moment. "Fillmore, are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Fillmore sighed and stopped in front of a bench before sitting down and wrapping the towel tighter around him again and setting his cocoa aside. Ingrid sat down next to him and waited for him to continue. "Ingrid...I wanna thank you for bein' there for me, even when I chewed you out when you found me earlier today..." the bespectacled boy chuckled bitterly, "I guess I needed that wake-up call you gave me, I really _was _slipping back into doin' things Sonny's way."

"I'm sure you would've done the right thing in the end no matter what."

Fillmore shook his head, "See that's the thing...havin' Sonny in my head, tellin' me to just go in there and grab the ledger like the thief I used to be...I almost gave in Ingrid, and I probably would've if you hadn't said what you said." Fillmore looked Ingrid in the eye and saw her patient expression as he confided in her, "What I can't figure out...is _why _I started slipping so easily."

Ingrid looked to the ground and folded her hands, "Fillmore...can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"How did you feel when Sonny showed up in the apple orchard and said that he'd help us catch Rudy?"

Fillmore looked down to the ground as well and exhaled through his nose. "I felt like...maybe I had gotten through to an old friend, maybe I could lead him on the path to going straight...Sonny _seemed _to take that first step like I did...I guess...I'm not as good a role model as I thought I was."

"No Fillmore," Ingrid placed a hand on his shoulder, "You're a _great _role model, you've helped so many people in this school. Kip Fontanella, Everett Konquist, Peter Chestnut, _Randall Julian, _they've all changed their lives for the better because of you...you even helped an _adult _back onto the straight and narrow, I'm sure Leo...or Gustav, whatever...he'd be in jail without you."

"It's not the same Ingrid...I have a lot of so-called friends in this school that I wish had gone straight with me, and after what happened with Penny..." Fillmore closed his eyes and sighed, "I just...I didn't wanna wind up losin' Sonny too."

_"Crackers!" _Suddenly Fillmore's reaction to her using the word penny made all the sense in the world to Ingrid. Just like Sonny, Penny Madrid, another old partner in crime of Fillmore's had faked going straight in order to use him for her own personal gain...she recalled how despondent Fillmore looked when he came into the Safety Patrol Office the day after his not-a-date with Penny, and as much as she would've liked to forget the look on his face, there were some disadvantages to having a photographic memory. She could try as hard as she wanted, but she would _never _forget that heartbroken expression on her best friend's face. "Hey, Fillmore?"

"Yeah Ingrid?"

Ingrid scooted a little closer to Fillmore and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, "I know _one_ of your delinquent friends who went straight thanks to you."

Fillmore looked up and turned his head towards his best friend, "Really? Who?" he asked curiously.

Ingrid smiled shyly, "Her name's Ingrid Third."

"What?"

"Fillmore," Ingrid took his hands into her own and turned her body so she was facing him, and Fillmore did the same even as he looked down at their hands before he looked back up to her face. "When I came to X, I was bitter, I was angry, and I had already gotten a really bad first impression thanks to the whole styrofoam ball introduction...if Parnassus hadn't set off the stink bomb himself, I probably would've done it just to get myself expelled and get sent back to a reform school...maybe this time in Siberia or something...but you refused to let me take the blame for something I didn't do, you took it upon yourself to prove my innocence when no one else thought it was even worth investigating. Then you recruited me into the Safety Patrol as your partner, and the rest is history."

"Yeah..." Fillmore chuckled a little, "Sure is."

Ingrid smiled a little brighter, "You changed me Fillmore, before you came along, I had pretty much resigned myself to permanent delinquency, and eventually I probably would've graduated from reform school to a _military _school...and if you need even more proof...remember my little adventure as a Red Robin?"

Fillmore frowned at the memory. "Yeah, I remember...Vallejo told me about what happened with Malika...for a while there, I was afraid I'd lost you the same way Vallejo lost her."

"You almost did," Ingrid's grip on his hands tightened without her knowledge, "But you hunted me down and replanted that seed you put in my mind and heart when we first met. I was one step away from joining the Red Robins for real, but when you found me, I realized...there's nothing I'd rather be than your partner."

Fillmore's mouth had fallen open a bit in awe at what he was hearing, "So...what're you sayin' Ingrid?"

Somehow, the pale girl found her face heating up, and she shrank back just the tiniest bit, "I'm saying...my coming back to the Safety Patrol had very little to do with the Safety Patrol itself...it had almost _everything _to do with the fact that I probably would've lost the best friend I've ever had if I joined Malika and her gang...you were right, the feeling of running with a crowd isn't real, it's an illusion...but what we have, you and me, it's as real as it gets...at least...that's how _I _feel."

To his credit, Fillmore managed to keep his face straight for the most part, but he couldn't ignore the fact that his heart was beating somewhat faster after Ingrid's little confession. They'd shared heart to heart's before, but never had it gotten so personal, and it had never really been about their personal relationship. To hear that he apparently mattered so much to the genius seventh-grader made his pride swell in all the right places, and his chosen response involuntarily made his heart swell a little as well. He leaned in and wrapped his arms around Ingrid's tiny frame, and she followed suit by returning the embrace. "Thanks Ingrid." he pulled back a little so he could see her face...there was that softer side of her again...and it wasn't disappearing this time. "I gotta ask though, why're you sharin' all this with me?"

"Because you're my best friend." she smiled tenderly at him for a second, but then it morphed into a playful smirk. "And besides, even though talking about feelings isn't really my style, I can't stand the sight of 'tortured Fillmore', that's definitely not a face I need in my photographic memory."

Fillmore smirked and chuckled, "Looks like having a memory like yours comes with its own set of problems."

"Oh yeah," her eyes narrowed as she smirked, "I still have nightmares about that guy's butt-crack...I never did get you back for that did I?"

"Would it be at all beneficial if I lied about that?"

"Probably not, I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd taken my revenge, photographic memory after all."

"Then it looks like I'll have to watch myself for the next few days." Fillmore got up from the bench, grabbed his cocoa, and offered his partner his free hand.

Ingrid took his hand and stood up as well, "I wouldn't advise that, it could be days, it could be weeks...it could be _months _before I spring my trap, and since I can't forget, it _will _eventually happen, the only question is _when."_

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to plan it I guess, because I plan on keepin' you around for a _long time." _Fillmore smiled down at her, realizing for perhaps the first time ever that he was actually a bit taller than her, "It's you and me Ingrid, together we're unbeatable, and Heaven help anyone who tries to stand in our way. We're a team, and as far as I'm concerned, we always will be."

Ingrid smiled back and felt herself blush a little, "I like the sound of that." she turned back to the path, "C'mon Fillmore, let's get you into some dry clothes, I don't wanna deal with a sick partner tomorrow."

"Alright Ingrid...and hey, thanks."

"You're welcome Fillmore."

The two Safety Patrollers began the walk back to the school once again, blissfully unaware of the fact that their hands were entwined the entire way there.  
_

**A/N: There you have it. I'd say that's a good place to end it. I thought this was more under the friendship genre, but I took it about as far as possible without actually turning it into a romance. I always wondered how Fillmore would feel about the fact that all his old friends kept turning on him. Luckily, Ingrid is there for him. I may revisit this series again someday, if I get inspired to try again...maybe I'll actually make a real romance. Until next time dear readers.**


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